Granted Patent B2

US 12,646,760 · App. 17/735,954 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: Kevin Wujcik (Berkeley, CA); Chaoyi Yan (Hayward, CA); Josephine Pedersen (Hayward, CA); Terri Lin (Hayward, CA); Eduard Nasybulin (Fremont, CA)

Assignee: Blue Current, Inc.

H01M10/446H01M4/0447H01M4/386H01M4/483H01M4/587H01M4/622H01M10/052H01M10/0525H01M10/058H01M10/44H01M50/411H01M50/431H01M50/446H01M2004/027Y02E60/10

Abstract

Claims (26)

1 . A method comprising:

providing a solid-state lithium-ion battery cell comprising an anode film, the anode film comprising particles of anode active material in contact with particles of inorganic solid electrolyte;

performing a high-pressure conditioning process comprising a plurality of charge/discharge cycles wherein an applied pressure between 2 and 10 MPa is maintained on the solid-state lithium-ion battery cell; and

removing the applied pressure, wherein after removing the applied pressure, the cell is conditioned for operation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein after removing the applied pressure, the cell is conditioned for an operation at an operating pressure and a ratio of the applied pressure to the operating pressure is at least 1.5:1.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure conditioning process is performed until a cycle-to-cycle percent thickness change of the cell measured in a fully discharged state is less than a threshold amount.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a cell thickness measured in the fully discharged state is less than 5% greater than a cell thickness in the fully discharged state prior to the high-pressure conditioning process being performed.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure conditioning process is performed until a cycle-to-cycle percent resistance change of the cell is less than a threshold amount.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the applied pressure is constant throughout the high-pressure conditioning process.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the applied pressure is varied between the 2 and 10 MPa during the high-pressure conditioning process.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a charge process of a cycle is performed until the cell has reached a predetermined level of a one of a) voltage; b) a current, c) a desired state of charge, or d) an amount of capacity.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined level varies over at least two cycles.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the anode active material comprises silicon.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the anode active material comprises at least one of elemental silicon, a silicon oxide, a silicon alloy, and a silicon-carbon composite.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid-state lithium-ion battery comprises a separator comprising a polymer and inorganic solid electrolyte particles.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein a charge process of a subsequent cycle is performed at a rate of current higher than the first cycle.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the high-pressure conditioning process is performed until a cycle-to-cycle percent change of a pressure measured within a cell pressure fixture is less than a threshold amount.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the applied pressure is uniaxial.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact between the particles of anode active material and the particles of inorganic solid electrolyte is maintained during the high-pressure conditioning process.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a contact area between the particles of anode active material in contact with the particles of inorganic solid electrolyte is increased during the high-pressure conditioning process.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein after the high-pressure conditioning process, the anode film comprises densified areas of inorganic solid electrolyte particles and anode active material particles surrounded by void space.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the anode film further comprises a polymer binder.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein after the high-pressure conditioning process, the anode film comprises densified areas of inorganic solid electrolyte particles, anode active material particles, and polymer binder surrounded by void space.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the particles of anode active material are in conformal contact with the particles of inorganic solid electrolyte.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein after removing the applied pressure, the cell is conditioned for operation at an operating pressure of less than 2 MPa.

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein after removing the applied pressure, the cell is conditioned for operation at an operating pressure less than the applied pressure.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (393)